The Town of Canmore launched an affordable services program earlier this year as a way to make life a bit easier to manage financially, and it has seen more than 600 individuals access it.
The Town of Canmore launched an affordable services program earlier this year as a way to make life a bit easier to manage financially, and it has seen more than 600 individuals access it.
The program offers affordability related to municipal programs and services with discounts at Elevation Place and a free Roam transit pass, for example, and manager of community social development Lisa Brown said it can be helpful to those struggling in an incredibly expensive community.
“Canmore is an expensive community and as presented to council before, Canmore has one of the highest living wages in Canada,” said Brown, adding housing is one of the biggest factors affecting affordability in the community.
“But we cannot ignore that there are other variables that make our living wage high and impacts an individual's ability to remain in the community.”
Brown and FCSS supervisor Tara Gilchrist presented the results of the first five months of the program to council at its committee of the whole meeting in September.
In total, 602 unique individuals have accessed the program and that includes 98 families and 158 children. There have been 373 applications for the affordable services program and single people who earn $31,200 or under and families/couples that earn $62,4000 or under are eligible to apply.
“All members of the FCSS team essentially review eligibility and conduct meetings with every individual who applies,” Gilchrist said. “Prior to launching the program, FCSS really talked a lot about the affordability program and what we were trying to achieve.”
The program is valid for one year and those who take part are provided with an affordable services card. However, they only have to present it once in order to access the benefits at places like Elevation Place.
“I think it is important for clients that there isn't a stigma attached with them flashing this card around on a regular basis,” Gilchrist said.
The program offers a free local six-month Roam pass, and 198 individuals took advantage of that, while regional Roam services are available at a 50 per cent discount.
Dog licences are free under the program and she said eight participants were able to reduce their annual costs as a result. The volunteer income tax program saw 44 individuals take part in its free services, and 33 children were able to attend camps offered in the community.
Elevation Place memberships were an attractive aspect of the affordability program, with 201 individual memberships and 31 family memberships accessed. Artsplace saw 123 registrations for its programs and events, with 41 of those being for children in the community.
Canmore Library provided 66 library cards and Gilchrist told council local restaurant The Range and Pine Tree Players each offered discounts for those in the program.
“People are grateful to have this offering and having someone there to support their success to live in our community,” she said.
Brown said different departments in the municipality saw positive outcomes as a result of the program. For example, she said Roam filled seats, FCSS built resilience, recreation saw people getting active and bylaw saw dogs licenced.
“We will continue to work with artsPlace and different community partners to ensure this program fits in their business plans as well,” she said.
Next steps, said Brown, include refining eligibility criteria, finding more partners in the community to offer affordability options and analyze further what the living wage for Canmore is and how many in the community exist in the wage gap.
“The affordability services program has been more popular than we anticipated,” she said, adding there are an average of two applications a day. “As we increase our program and start partnering with more community partners, we are concerned it will be quite resource intensive.”
Gilchrist said she found that people only used the services they needed through the program and were appreciative of the support.
“I think people were very conscious of being appreciative of what was offered, but only used the things they needed and helped their lives,” she said.
